The present disclosure relates to incontinence detection systems and particularly, to incontinence detection systems that use a pad beneath a person lying in a patient bed. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to incontinence detection systems that are able to communicate wirelessly between the pad and a reader on the patient bed.
Incontinence detection systems that have incontinence detection pads placed beneath a patient on a patient bed are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,095 discloses an incontinence detection pad having electrical circuitry that couples via a wired connection to a controller of a patient bed. Recent efforts have involved the development of wireless communication between the circuitry of the incontinence detection pad and a reader on a patient bed. See, for example, U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2017/0065464 A1 and 2017/0246063 A1, and International Publication No. WO 2017/087452 A1 each of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein for all that it teaches.
Some incontinence detection pads include a layer having electrodes printed thereon and a passive radio frequency identification tag coupled to the electrodes. It is sometimes the case that false positive alerts are generated due to perspiration or medicinal gels, lotions, or creams leeching through the incontinence detection pad and coming into contact with the electrodes. In such situations the patient's skin may act as part of the electrical pathway between the electrodes in combination with the leeched moisture that contacts the electrodes. Accordingly, there is a need to eliminate the number of false positive alerts that occur in the prior art incontinence detection pads. Other improvements in incontinence detection pads and readers are also desirable.